Coming Clean
by Manth
Summary: Exam time is almost upon us. What could be more relaxing than a nice bubble bath?


Author's Note:  
  
This is my first fanfic story. One of my closest friends suggested I try my hand at this as an alternative to chewing my fingernails to the elbow during a particularly stressful time. Thanks, Sis - I think.  
  
The story is written in response to the Bubble Bath challenge on WIKTT.  
  
******  
  
"Ah, it is SO good to feel clean again!"  
  
Severus Snape, Potions Master at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, stretched his lean frame in the warm, bubbly water and sighed with relief. Not for the first time, he mentally cursed the fate that left his skin allergic to many of the ingrediants used in the potions brewed by students in his Dungeon. The salve he coated himself with daily certainly helped to alleviate the itching and boils that were his lot without it, but he loathed the greasy residue it left on his skin, especially his scalp.  
  
  
  
He loved being Potions Master. The allergies were a small price to pay for the sheer joy of spending all day, every day brewing and stewing, breathing the fumes. Oh, he had initially applied for the post of Defence Against The Dark Arts. The Dark Lord had ordered him to do so, and Snape had been a good little Death Eater at the time. Why Voldemort had wanted Snape in the role he had no idea, nor did he particularly care. It had been enough that he had been ordered to apply.  
  
Later, when Snape had left Voldemort to work with Dumbledore and the others in the Order of the Phoenix, he'd continued to apply for the post. He didn't want it, and Dumbledore KNEW he didn't want it. Dumbledore would never give him the post. It helped with his cover, though. If Voldemort *thought* he'd been continuing to work His Master's Bidding, then it might be a little easier for Snape to infiltrate again.  
  
Still....he took a sip of champagne. Perhaps it was a little early to celebrate the end of the school year, but he didn't care. Soon, very soon now, the students would be going home for the summer holidays. Two more weeks and the fifth years would sit their OWLs, the seventh years their NEWTs, and then... Months when he *didn't* have to go face those stupid little ... Months when he could let his skin BREATHE every day, without fear of coming into contact with the painful steams and smokes from the cauldrons of the students. MONTHS when he could walk down the corridors without being bowled over by stupid children running him down the way Miss Granger had this afternoon.  
  
He let a smile creep over his face. Miss Granger. The brightest student in the school. Possibly the most clever student who had EVER been at Hogwarts. Her mind, her thirst for knowledge, attracted him in a way no woman had in a long time. Her youthful body was no small attraction, either. In the last few years she had ripened into a picture of young womanhood that would be tempting even without the brain behind it. Not conventionally pretty, perhaps, but handsome, definitely handsome. He felt a tightening as he thought about her, only 2 rooms away, completely oblivious to his naked state as she concentrated on her detention punishment - correcting the essays written by first years on the uses of Aconite. Not even the so-clever Miss Hermione Granger would get through that pile quickly. He had time to enjoy his bath. He wondered how she would react if she knew he was sitting here, naked, thinking of her...  
  
**********  
  
Hermione Granger pushed away the last roll of parchment with a heartfelt sigh. 2 hours she had been sitting here, attempting to decipher the first years' work. More than a few were apparently of the opinion that it didn't matter whether or not they stuck to the topic in order to attain the required 12 inches. Even more tended to write their letters larger as the end of the roll came in view, in order to fill the space.  
  
How could she have been so stupid as to fall asleep over her Arithmancy book? That meant she'd had to run to reach her Transfiguration class, and had run *right* into Professor Snape. Literally. Knocking him to the floor! She needed to study every spare minute with NEWTs coming up and here she was, serving detention in Professor Snape's study. Reading stupid first year assignments. Stupid first year assignments that had had the names Disguised so she couldn't even identify which idiot had written which stupid assignment.  
  
He had left her in there, after wizard-locking every shelf and cabinet. She had a chair, desk, quill and the essays to look at, nothing more. He'd told her she was to stay until he dismissed her, then had left.   
  
"Professor Snape? I've finished the essays, sir" she called. There was no response from the next room. She got up and opened the door into his sitting room. "Professor Snape?"  
  
The room was empty. Now what? She had to stay here until he released her, but he wasn't here *to* release her. And she REALLY needed to go...  
  
"Well, if he wants me to stay, then he'll have to accept I used his facilities" she said to herself, marching over to the smaller door in the left-hand wall of the sitting room. Opening it, she walked in.  
  
**********  
  
The first thing Hermione noticed was the lighting. A plethora of candles, giving off the gentle aroma of sandalwood, created a soft glow. A similar scent came from the huge, claw-footed tub - the water was obviously well-laced with bubble bath matching the candles. And in the tub, muscles gleaming in the soft light, was the naked form of her Potions Master.  
  
He had reached for the champagne bottle, apparently intending to refill the glass in his hand. In his surprise at the opening of the door he had instead knocked over the bottle. Champagne spurted from the neck as it hit the flagstones, then began to roll towards the door.  
  
Hermione gazed, transfixed, at the naked man. Who would have thought that, under those sweeping, batlike robes lurked *this* body? In her wildest dreams, her most fervent fantasies, she would never have imagined...She realised who she was staring at. Oops. Was he going to put her into detention every night for the rest of her school career? Good thing it was almost over!  
  
"Excuse me, Sir. I was just going...I was just looking for ... I'll...I'll wait for you in the study, shall I?" Hermione blushed, turned and started to leave the bathroom...At least, that's what she *planned* to do - beat a dignified retreat. The champagne bottle, unnoticed, had rolled against her legs and between that and the slippery flagstones, she fell. Forward. Plunging into the steamy, bubbling water on top of Snape.  
  
His arms came out automatically to catch her, to break her fall. She fitted there, perfectly, as if she had been made for him to hold. Her loose fitting cotton robe, soaked by the bath water, moulded to her form making it obvious she had dispensed with underthings on this hot night. With a wave of his fingers, he sent the robe to hang on the far side of the bathroom.   
  
"Sir...I...what if someone comes in?" Hermione gasped. It felt strangely right to be naked in here with him. At this point, he didn't seem like a teacher, more of a ...   
  
"Frankly, Hermione, I don't give a damn. This is MY bathroom. These are MY quarters. Yes, I am currently your teacher but I won't be for much longer. We are both of age. Why not share a bath. A nice bubble bath could be just the thing to help you relax in the face of exam pressures."  
  
Hermione relaxed, leaning into him. A line from a Muggle play came to mind and she (mis) quoted softly "Bubble, bubble, boil and trouble...boy are *we* going to be in trouble if we're caught at this"  
  
"I told you, it doesn't matter." He began to smooth his hands over the skin of her back and shoulders, caressing them as he washed her, slowly, sensuously. "No-one will come in. No teacher would be so rude as to intrude on my bathroom. Any student who did so would be in serious trouble. No member of Slytherin would even contemplate it without my invitation, and no member of any other house would be able to get in here anyway. So, we're safe. Perfectly..." his hand slipped lower "utterly..." lower still..."safe".  
  
Hermione gasped. She turned in his arms, pressing herself closer to him. She couldn't believe she was doing this and yet it seemed so right. So natural. So...  
  
She screamed. Standing there, in the doorway, was Draco Malfoy. He seemed not at all taken aback by the sight of the Head of his House in the tub with company. Malfoy, indeed, seemed to have expected it. Of course, perhaps not this *particular* company. His eyes lit up when he realised just who it was in the tub this time. What a story this would make.  
  
"I brought the extra towels, sir. Shall I put them in the usual place?"  
  
"Yes, boy, do just that. And, Malfoy...if a word gets out about just who accompanied me this evening... Even if *you* didn't do the telling of it, you WILL be sorry for it. For one thing, it will be 200 points from Slytherin. And I'll make sure everyone knows it was *you* who lost them."  
  
Malfoy's face fell. The scoop of the year - the Brains of Gryffindor in such a compromising position and he dared not breathe a word. "Yes sir" he mumbled, and slunk back out of the room.  
  
"Now, where were we?" Severus Snape, Potions Master at Hogwarts, returned to the contemplation of the many charms of the brightest young lady ever to have graced the school. 


End file.
